1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a seat assembly for an automotive vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to a seat assembly that is capable of being moved forward and upward to a stand-up position to provide access to a rearward area of an automotive vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
It is common in certain mini-van and sport utility vehicles to provide second and third row seating. Typically, the vehicle includes a pair of front doors adjacent front row seating and a pair of rear doors located adjacent the second row seating. The third row seating is located at the generally furthermost rear portion of the vehicle and is not located adjacent a door opening. Thus, passengers do not have direct access to the third row seating.
To provide access to the third row seating or a rear storage area, it is well known that the second row seating may have a releasable seatback locking mechanism which is capable of being manually actuated in order to pivot the seatback forwardly to an access position. Optionally, the second row seating may be moveable to a tumbled position adjacent the front row seating, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,555 to Liu et al. The tumbled position is attained by first folding the seat back flat against the seat cushion and then pivoting both the seat back and seat cushion about a pivot point at a lower front edge of the seat cushion approximately 90 degrees until the seat back and seat cushion are substantially upright. In the tumbled position, the seat back of the second row seating is disposed between the seat cushion of the second row seating and the front row seating. A passenger can then enter the vehicle through one of the rear doors, moving past the tumbled second row seating, to gain access to the third row seating or the rear storage area. Movement of the second row seating in this manner can be difficult and cumbersome, and the area of ingress and egress is often uncomfortably small.
In order to provide better access to the third row seating it has been proposed to move the second row seating to a stand-up position, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,676,216 to Freijy et al. The stand-up position is attained by pivoting the seat cushion forward about a pivot point at a lower front edge from a generally horizontal position for supporting a seat occupant to a generally vertical position. Next, the seat back is moved from a first vertical position for supporting the seat occupant in the seating position to a second vertical position forward and upward of the first vertical position. The seat cushion moves independently of the seat back requiring a two step process for operation.
It is therefore desirable to provide a seat assembly having a seat back pivotally coupled to a seat cushion and including a simple, robust mechanism for pivoting the seat back relative to the seat cushion as the seat assembly moves between a seating position and a stand-up position. It is also desirable to provide a latch mechanism for releasably securing the seat assembly to the floor in the seating position which does not protrude rearwardly from the seat back when the seat assembly is in the stand-up position.